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What are your contexts?

I have been rereading some of Merlin's posts now that I have started GTD implementation and his post about contexts was really helpful because I am unsure about the contexts that I have set up. I found it interesting to read his list of contexts, and thought it would be helpful to hear what others have in their lists of contexts.

Please post your contexts, maybe with a little explanation about the logic behind your system. Thanks.

Here is my list (feel free to critique it):

home: computer
home: calls
home: do
home: client
out: client
out: errands
think, create
work: calls
work: errands
work: phone
work: computer

My logic: I have a home business that involves selling stuff online, meeting clients outside my home and also having clients to my house, plus I have a night job (for rent money and benefits) where, if I have downtime, I can do whatever I want (within reason) including phone calls, research, errands etc. I split out errands to "out" and "work" because there are some errands I can do near work, but actually those can be done at anytime, like on my way to work, so I will probably eliminate "work: errands". "Home: do" is a catch-all for chores and non-work stuff around the house that doesn't fit the other categories; I am thinking of breaking that out a little more. "Think, create" is another catchall for brainstorming, sketching, mulling in a controlled situation...not just daydreaming, but working out ideas for a specific project.

vrillusions's picture

I use a palm and...

I use a palm and notepad for all my tasks, so I'm limited by the 16 category limit, which is fine for me. This is still a work in progress, but here's my contexts at the moment:

@agendas
@calls
@datacenter #physical stuff i want to do the next time I'm at the datacenter (about 20 miles from our office/my house)
@errands
@home
@internet
@read/review
@someday/maybe
@waiting
@work

Non GTD categories:
Business
Personal # these could both be expanded to Business Ref and Personal Ref
PalmWiki # all the items I create for the nice PalmWiki app

@agendas is probably used a little differently than it's proper meaning. I use it more for things that I've lent out to people. For example a friend had car trouble and I lent him some money, I have a 'money bob owes...' and mention everything in there. So it's more of a list of stuff I should remind someone else the next time I see them.

The other interesting thing I've done on the palm is the use of "..." for note titles to indicate there's more to it than a single line. For example I have an item "set up auto-pay for cc". I have another item "set up auto-pay for dentist...". I know that there's more information for the dentist auto-pay (how much I still owe) where the credit card is just going to be a set recurring amount of whatever and it will be a few years before it's paid off, so no need for any extra information, which is why it doesn't have the "..." at the end. Also the pda will automatically put ... at the end if I make the title to long. So whether it's done automatically or by me, it get the same idea across that "hey, there's more to this task than what you're seeing"

 
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